There are companies that with the pandemic and “thanks” to the pandemic have accelerated on the digitalization front, drawing concrete business benefits and others that have fallen behind precisely because they have not succeeded (or have only partially succeeded) in carrying out related transformation projects to technologies. A research conducted in April by Alibaba in collaboration with YouGov, which Sole24ore.com had the opportunity to preview, tried to understand how small and medium-sized enterprises in the European Union have adapted to meet the challenges that the emergency Covid-19 confronted them and found that only just over half (52%) are currently active in exporting internationally (and mainly to other EU member states). The barriers? The cost of transport (item indicated in 19% of cases), the lack of personnel and resources (in 18%), but also lack of clarity and understanding of local regulations (in 15%). To boost sales abroad, on the other hand, the two factors claimed by businesses are the reduction of cross-border bureaucracy and greater ease in the use of digital payment services.
Digital payments are important to 9 out of 10 companies
Of the sample of approximately 2,300 companies surveyed in six countries (Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Holland and Poland), 500 of these were Italian SMEs: 51% confirmed that they currently sell services and products outside their national borders and the the remaining 49% limits their activity to the local market only. Among the former, 60% operate in all the nations of Europe of the 27 and 36% also in other European states outside the EU; about a third do business in North America, a quarter in Russia and South America and a fifth is active in the markets of China, Africa and India. Among the companies that sell across borders, exports are considered a significant part of the business in 31% of cases and essential to remain competitive in 23%. The majority of those who work outside Italy, 62% to be precise, consider digital payment methods to be very important and a further 30% consider them quite important, while only 7% do not consider them particularly useful and effective and 2% do not makes no use of it.
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Barriers to exports
Among the main barriers that SMEs still not facing the international market cite as the most important, the most important item concerns the costs of transporting goods (cited by 24% of companies) and to follow complications and delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic ( 20%), a lack of understanding of various local regulations and a lack of staff and resources (19%). The concern about the risk of fraud and the security of payments affects only 12% of SMEs and even less important is the lack of knowledge of how to use the necessary technology.
Government actions to promote electronic commerce
When asked about possible public interventions to support the sale of products or services at an international level, Italian small and medium-sized enterprises seem to have little doubt in this regard. The substantial reduction of administrative procedures to operate abroad (cross-border bureaucracy, documentation, trade customs) is at the top of the list of priorities for over a third of the sample companies while 31% ask for targeted actions to better inform SMEs about the options for cross-border e-commerce and 27% to provide financial assistance for the establishment of online stores.
The Covid-19 effect on digital activities
The propensity to operate on an international scale and to sell online following the pandemic records percentages that could be defined as not exciting. 52% of the 500 companies surveyed believe that they are very or fairly likely to increase their cross-border activities at an international level (only 5% have already done so) and a slightly higher percentage, 59%, confirmed their intention to strengthen their their presence in e-commerce and only 7% have already completed this step. The possibility of starting to sell on an online market increasingly affects more than half of SMEs (53% to be precise) but at the moment only 9% have confirmed that they have already taken this path. Finally, the attitude towards the implementation of new or additional digital payment options and the increase of digital marketing activities is similar: it is a very or quite probable possibility for 58% and 62% of companies respectively, but also in this case only 10% and 6% have already concretely worked in these directions.